Forum Category for Female Bitcoiners

[lorix]

I was thinking about the merits of having a forum category aimed at and for female bitcoiners to use.

The fact is that the Bitcoin ecosystem is predominately male territory, and the fact that the only aspect that was geared towards women was the now defunct "Girls Gone Bitcoin" only served to reinforce a particular stereotype in the community.

While I have nothing against that - it's a free market - I do feel that as the leading Bitcoin forum on the web BitcoinTalk could set an example by creating a new subforum as a place for real Bitcoin related discussion between women on topics that are relevant to them.

Speaking for myself as a man trying to encourage his wife to get into Bitcoin - it would be great if there was a place I could tell her to visit and find out she wouldn't be alone, and try to break through some of those stereotypes that we all agree are going to be barriers to mass adoption in the long run.

Any chance of this happening? I can only see this as a positive, perhaps there is a female leader in the forums already who would like to take ownership and moderate this?

Thoughts/discussion people?

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[flower1024]

I want a forum category for men then...
With Poker and Hookers

seriously: we dont need it.

[Mike Christ]

There's just not enough women here to constitute an entire section for women; also, the last time a thread was started geared towards women, it was trolled to death by the usual riff-raff that have difficulties seeing women as people.

[flower1024]

for me an own forum category for women is the opposit of emancipation.
women are people, men are people

people meet here to talk about money. i dont care about the gender at all

[BadBear]

That would be problematic, need to vet every poster that posts there, on a forum where people tend to value their anonymity?

[BadBear]

There's just not enough women here to constitute an entire section for women; also, the last time a thread was started geared towards women, it was trolled to death by the usual riff-raff that have difficulties seeing women as people.

Also this, it would be the most trolled forum after custom hardware/securities. It was quite disturbing.

[lorix]

A lot of valid feedback so far - I've given it some thought and I'll comment where I can:

Mike - "Build it and they will come" - actually having an area for women could serve to increase the number that are participating. And these are after all moderated forums so it would be no more or less susceptible to trolling as any other thread. Go take a look at the BFL related discussions if you want to see what I mean.

Flower - Perhaps, I'm not invalidating your position but why not have the area and leave it up to those who choose to participate or not. Or are you suggesting the Olympics should do away with gender distinction and just have all-in competition in each category? Sometimes gender distinctions exist for a good reason, in athletics it's there to allow for a level playing field and I'm suggesting it should be no different for Bitcoin discussions. Besides, having a subforum doesn't stop women from participating in any other forum does it?

Badbear - That's what the moderators are for - and community standards have a way of self enforcing. Trolls are quickly identified and ejected and the forum isn't intended to be exclusively for women to use, only a place for them to have genuine discussions about Bitcoin, adoption and issues that us less-enlightened males might not be in tune to. Anyone can post but the theme sub-forum theme is set. But then, how is this different from any other sub-forum on here?

Again, I'm suggesting this from the viewpoint that there would be a good place I can direct women to as a place they can discuss Bitcoin and how it might relate to them as women. If we want more people to use Bitcoin we should be taking steps like this to open up and welcome discussion across the board, and provide a home for it.

I'd be interested in hearing from an existing female member here on their viewpoint.

Just my 2c here.

[Akka]

I want a forum category for men then...
With Poker and Hookers

me too!

....

In fact, forget the forum category.

....

and the Poker.

[BadBear]

Badbear - That's what the moderators are for - and community standards have a way of self enforcing. Trolls are quickly identified and ejected and the forum isn't intended to be exclusively for women to use, only a place for them to have genuine discussions about Bitcoin, adoption and issues that us less-enlightened males might not be in tune to. Anyone can post but the theme sub-forum theme is set. But then, how is this different from any other sub-forum on here?

Haven't been here long have you? 

[lorix]

Long time reader, recent poster. Still, if other forums exist despite being troll magnets then why couldn't this one?

[flower1024]

Flower - Perhaps, I'm not invalidating your position but why not have the area and leave it up to those who choose to participate or not. Or are you suggesting the Olympics should do away with gender distinction and just have all-in competition in each category?

there are other ways for different categories in sport. eg weight. and yes: if women REALLY want to be treated equal there is no room for gender distinction.

Sometimes gender distinctions exist for a good reason, in athletics it's there to allow for a level playing field and I'm suggesting it should be no different for Bitcoin discussions. Besides, having a subforum doesn't stop women from participating in any other forum does it?

my problem with this is, that you hear quite often people arguing pro "special women treatment". but this is not equal treatment. there comes my men-only-category argument. if men have also their own category it would be equal.

but...why do you even think women need their own room? men can come read and write: so its not a closed audience (this would practically be impossible - even with id scans). if its just to promote women-specific serices it could be a sub category under services (i'd still prefer to have categories per product and not per gender though).

so please tell me:
 - Why do you think women would be attracted to bitcointalk by their own category?
 - What (and why) would they post there, which they could not post anywhere else?

[Mike Christ]

Aside from all that, I agree with flower, there's no need to make a women's category any more than there's a need to create a black category.  I won't take "but it's different" for an answer I'm afraid

[elux]

I was thinking about the merits of having a forum category aimed at and for female bitcoiners to use.

I think it's an obviously good idea. Think of it in terms of utilizing and cultivating the full talent pool...



Admittedly, there are differences.

On the whole, my impression is that Bitcointalk is not obviously better than Saudi Arabia when it comes to encouraging women to participate.

That would be problematic, need to vet every poster that posts there, on a forum where people tend to value their anonymity?

No need for that. There are lots of Local forums. Do you feel compelled to vet the Korean forum, to keep non-koreans out?

A women's sub-forum shouldn't imply "no men allowed" any more than the hebrew forum should imply "no gentiles allowed".

[Mike Christ]

There are lots of Local forums. Do you feel compelled to vet the Korean forum, to keep non-koreans out?

A women's sub-forum shouldn't imply "no men allowed" any more than the hebrew forum should imply "no gentiles".

Those are more so for geographical location and language, neither of which most of the folks here would understand.  Let's not place women, over 50% of the population found in every parts of the world, in the same category as culture and language.  Anyone who thinks women are alien in this way aren't very familiar with women on a deep level.

[dree12]

I'm all for greater female involvement in the Bitcoin community. And, unlike some other members of this community, I know that women are just as capable of understanding, admiring, and participating in Bitcoin as men are. I'm aware it's just sexism preventing this. Clearly, in some places and communities (e.g. China), this gender bias doesn't exist.

That said, I'm against the idea of a female-only subforum. The issue at stake is: where do we draw the line? Should we have an African-American subforum? An LGBT subforum? An ages 70+ subforum? At a certain point, the subforums are segregated based on qualities that aren't relevant to constructive discourse about Bitcoin.

Personally, I think the community should instead do more to make it less toxic for women. One user recently PMed me regarding using the trust system as a punitive measure. Although I am ambivalent about overloading the trust system in this manner, if there is enough support for using the trust system this way I would cancel my opposition to it.

If so, people who make it unnecessarily difficult to participate in this community as a women can be punished through the trust system. I certainly do not like mob justice, but perhaps the trust system is more similar to decentralized justice, given the ability to choose whom one trusts.

[lorix]

Thanks for the positive elux and it's a valid point - we already have regional sub-forums here so they are a good example of this in practice. And it's not exclusionary, I can still go in and post to those areas, I just need to keep in mind the particular theme and purpose of the sub-forum.

As to the whole "it's different" argument - well isn't that the point of having different sub-forums and threads for discussions, because each discussion *is* different.

This isn't about locking men out or discriminating - either positive or negative - towards women. It's simply about having a place that is open to everyone but focused on how Bitcoin relates to women, barriers to entry, products and advertising and so forth.

This isn't so much about having something to attract women to Bitcoin, it's about being able to provide a place where they know they can go somewhere to discuss topics that relate specifically to them as women as Bitcoin users. We should do what we can to avoid the perception that this is just one big boys club here.

It's topical, inclusive, relevant and real-world.

[romerun]

how about tranny

[Akka]

This isn't so much about having something to attract women to Bitcoin, it's about being able to provide a place where they know they can go somewhere to discuss topics that relate specifically to them as women as Bitcoin users. We should do what we can to avoid the perception that this is just one big boys club here.

Serously now,

I can imagine that an extra women categry would have the exact opposite effect on what you are hoping for.

Putting a "Female Only Sign" somewhere in a place give the impression as if the rest where "Male Only".

This could have more of an discouraging effect. And I already can see post like "go and discuss such stuff in the female section, men are talking here".

Everyone can talk about (almost) everything here and in a forum you are genderless unless you state your gender.

But why don't you make an anonymous poll (you can edit your first post in this thread to add one), to see how many people would like such a section.
Just make a poll "Would you like a Women Board?" Yes/No.

Even if 10,000 People Vote No, if there are 50 Yes Votes it would show that there are enough people interested to support such a board.

[waltermot321]

Actually we also category like gaming, food, exercise and health

[Rupture]

Nah, the board would probably get trolled anyway